Hi Victoria! Thanks for being so honest about your experiences with “Just Right” books in the classroom. I always thought of the students’ “Just Right” books as the books they could read independently, based on my running record assessments after reading with the students one-on-one. After I was done assessing all of the children and found their independent reading levels, I would read aloud a simple version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. This gave students a mental picture of how a book could be described as “too hard”, “too easy” or “just right” . Then, I would model how to choose a book from the leveled basket, illustrating how my prior knowledge and the content of the book also influenced my ability to read and understand the book. I’m not sure if any of this fits into where “Just Right” reading works into your classroom, but I hope it helps! =)
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You have WONDERFUL thoughts. Now I do not use leveled baskets- my students do the five-finger test so they can choose from any basket and know it is a book that challenges them. You may enjoy my upcoming post about writing book recommendations that is a follow-up to this post. - Victoria
Hi Victoria! Thanks for being so honest about your experiences with “Just Right” books in the classroom. I always thought of the students’ “Just Right” books as the books they could read independently, based on my running record assessments after reading with the students one-on-one. After I was done assessing all of the children and found their independent reading levels, I would read aloud a simple version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. This gave students a mental picture of how a book could be described as “too hard”, “too easy” or “just right” . Then, I would model how to choose a book from the leveled basket, illustrating how my prior knowledge and the content of the book also influenced my ability to read and understand the book. I’m not sure if any of this fits into where “Just Right” reading works into your classroom, but I hope it helps! =)
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You have WONDERFUL thoughts. Now I do not use leveled baskets- my students do the five-finger test so they can choose from any basket and know it is a book that challenges them. You may enjoy my upcoming post about writing book recommendations that is a follow-up to this post. - Victoria